Gacha System in Naruto-153 – The Sins Buried Beneath the Leaf

Gacha System in Naruto-153 – The Sins Buried Beneath the Leaf

Hearing Ryouma's comforting words, Tsunade lifted her chin slightly, a proud expression on her face.
"Are you underestimating me? The darkness I've witnessed goes far deeper than this."
"Well then, I suppose I was overthinking it."
Seeing her calm demeanor, Ryouma also relaxed and turned his attention back to the meeting.
Although Tsunade appeared composed and at ease, the same couldn't be said for everyone else.
Having one's clan's secret techniques and bloodline limit secretly researched by fellow villagers was not something easily forgiven.
It was only due to the high level of self-control typical of ninja, and the fact that the Hokage himself was present, that people hadn't started shouting in outrage.
Take Hiashi, for example, who sat next to Ryouma, before the meeting, he had been chatting and laughing with him, but after reading the materials from the ANBU, his face turned cold and he sat silently like a statue.
Still, one had to admit, if these sensational experiments actually succeeded, they could indeed bring considerable benefits to Konoha. Unfortunately, most of them ended in failure.
Within minutes, Minato saw that everyone had roughly gone through the distributed documents.
He put away his usual gentle smile, his expression turning serious as he said in a deep voice, "As you can see, the experiments and locations listed here were uncovered by the Sandaime's team during a search of Danzō's former Root base. As for the specific details of each experiment, I will have the ANBU organize and deliver them to each clan after the meeting."
This move by him brought some reassurance to the clan representatives in the room.
After all, what's done is done, and judging by Minato's attitude, he wasn't trying to downplay or cover anything up. At the very least, the village was taking it seriously.
It wasn't uncommon for enemy forces to research bloodline limits or secret techniques, what was rare was for one's own people to do it behind closed doors.
A concerned jonin raised his hand and asked, "Then, Hokage-sama, may I ask, Danzō and Orochimaru… uh, where are they now?"
Faced with this question, Minato had no intention of hiding the truth. Everyone present was a pillar of Konoha, they all knew what should and shouldn't be said.
"Orochimaru turned himself in voluntarily and provided information on numerous illegal research sites initiated by Danzō. For now, he is under house arrest."
"As for Danzō, five days ago, he covertly attacked jonin Shiori, attempting to steal her Sharingan. In the end, she killed him on the spot. His body has been sent to the ANBU for safekeeping."
At the first part of this explanation, the clan representatives figured the so-called disciplinary action would probably be just for show. But then came the bombshell Minato dropped in the second part.
Everyone instantly turned to look at Fugaku, thinking,
Leave it to the Uchiha, their people don't mess around. An elder attacked, and they just killed him.
If they were in the same position, having their bloodline limit stolen by Danzō, they definitely wouldn't surrender it willingly. But killing Danzō on the spot? That would probably be out of the question. At most, they'd put up token resistance and then run straight to the Hokage for help.
Meanwhile, Fugaku, who had just learned about this himself, was feeling increasingly uneasy under everyone's gaze. Even with just a guess, he could figure out what they were all thinking,
The Uchiha clan really does produce some fierce ones.
After thinking for a moment, he forced an awkward smile and said, "Hokage-sama, Shiori was only acting in self-defense. She's young and couldn't hold back… she, uh…"
He wasn't bad with words, but in this situation, he genuinely didn't know how to smooth things over for Shiori. If he couldn't explain this properly, the Uchiha clan would be in trouble again. In his panic, he couldn't help but glance toward Ryouma.
Noticing Fugaku's pleading look, Ryouma shot him a knowing glance, the kind that said: Relax, we've got backing at the top.
Unfortunately, Fugaku didn't seem to get the message. It was like throwing a flirtatious look at a blind man.
Left with no choice, Ryouma cleared his throat and spoke up, "In my eyes, Konoha should be a transparent Konoha. Every person has the right to push back against injustice. Even if Shiori hadn't counterattacked that day, I would've personally dealt with Danzō myself."
His words shocked the surrounding clan representatives. He casually said out loud what many of them had always wanted to say but never had the guts to, especially right in front of the Third Hokage.
As soon as Ryouma finished, Minato followed up to support his point.
"Ryouma is absolutely right. After thorough investigation, Danzō ambushed Shiori at an abandoned Root base south of the Forest of Death. A Nara-led ANBU squad was on site, and Orochimaru himself served as a witness."
"Additionally, a transplanted Sharingan was indeed found on Danzō's body. Based on all this, my judgment is that Shiori is not guilty. If anyone has objections, you may raise them now."
He valued fairness deeply. Even with overwhelming evidence, he still left room for dissent. But realistically speaking, both the most powerful authority and the strongest combatant in Konoha had already spoken. Who would object now?
In fact, to avoid suspicion, and also to prevent the others in the room from turning their attention to him like a weathervane following the wind, the leader of the Shimura clan was the first to raise his hand and declare. "Your handling of the matter is perfectly fair. I have no objections."
"I have no objections either," Hiashi immediately followed suit.
One after another, the other jonin copied them and raised their hands in agreement.
Ryouma glanced at the plain-looking Shimura clan leader. He'd been to countless meetings but had never seen this guy so quick to take a stance. And judging by his expression, he even seemed... genuinely pleased.
After stating his position, Masahiko sat back with a calm, satisfied look.
As the leader of the Shimura clan, he actually didn't have much fondness for Danzō. When other clans had someone rise to a high position, they'd at least bring some benefits back to their own people.
But Danzō? He never showed the slightest interest in benefiting the Shimura clan. On the contrary, he was constantly asking for people to replenish Root, which had a terrifyingly high casualty rate.
Utterly absurd.
Now that the guy was dead, not going to thank Shiori was already the limit of his self-restraint.
Before long, the voting ended.
"Thank you all for your trust. Now, let's proceed with the next ruling."
With that, Minato nodded at Hiruzen.
Receiving the signal, Hiruzen, who had remained silent since the beginning of the meeting, slowly stepped forward with a guilty expression.
"These inhumane experiments… were all the result of my own leniency toward Danzō and Orochimaru during my time as Hokage."
With that, he bowed deeply to all the clan representatives present, displaying the utmost humility.
"I am… truly sorry."
Logically speaking, at this kind of meeting, there should have been a whole crowd of people rushing to persuade Hiruzen not to blame himself so much.
But with a new Hokage came a new administration. The current Hokage was Minato, who knew what he was really thinking?
If the opinions of the two Hokage conflicted, wouldn't the people who jumped in early to defend Hiruzen just end up embarrassing themselves?
So these shrewd meeting attendees looked at each other, but not one wanted to be the first to speak up.
In the end, it was Tsunade who broke the silence and came to Hiruzen's aid.
"Alright. You really shouldn't have turned a blind eye to Danzō's actions, but what we need to focus on today is how to deal with Danzō and Orochimaru. You're too old to be pushing yourself like this."
With her taking the lead, the atmosphere in the conference room began to ease up a little.
Some of the clan representatives saw this as a good opportunity to express loyalty and quickly echoed her words, trying to persuade Hiruzen as well.
Naturally, this included the Hyūga clan, known throughout Konoha for their obedience to the Hokage.
Hiashi, with his sharp observational skills, had already noticed the subtle signals between Tsunade and Ryouma.
He quickly inferred that Tsunade was very likely siding with Orochimaru this time. And since her position could be taken as Ryouma's, and Ryouma was practically joined at the hip with Minato, then the Hyūga clan's stance was obvious.
"Sandaime-sama, your contributions to Konoha in the past two wars are something we've all witnessed. Please don't damage your health over guilt. It's clear that this entire matter was orchestrated by Danzō alone. Perhaps Orochimaru was simply overwhelmed and made mistakes under pressure."
That was all Hiashi would say. Even if he had picked a side, he couldn't afford to be too blatant about it, or the Hyūga clan would come off as too weak.
Meanwhile, Minato sat in the main seat, feeling a bit awkward, how did this judgment meeting suddenly turn into a loyalty showcase?
The tone had shifted way too fast.
This was one of the addictive aspects of power: even if those at the top have no particular intentions, the people beneath them will endlessly speculate and act accordingly.
And in the end, it was always the honest ones who got hurt, like Fugaku.
He had suspected Danzō was dangerous, but never imagined he was this insane. Of all the experiments recorded in the documents, four out of ten involved the Sharingan.
Though furious, for the sake of the Uchiha clan's peaceful existence in Konoha, he had no choice but to go along with Tsunade's lead.
But just as he was organizing his thoughts and preparing to speak, Hiruzen suddenly straightened his back and spoke, "No! We absolutely cannot show leniency in this matter. I have already made my decision, Orochimaru and Danzō colluded in blatant disregard of Konoha's rules. Not only did they restart forbidden experiments, but they also desecrated the remains of our fallen heroes."
"For committing such heinous acts, and with Danzō already having paid the price by being killed by Shiori, Orochimaru must now be dealt with by my own hands."
"Once this is all over, I will also take my own life to atone for my failure!"
To everyone's shock, he had no intention of brushing aside his own negligence as others tried to help him do. Instead, he gave an unflinchingly resolute declaration.
"…Huh?"
Minato looked at Hiruzen in bewilderment, this wasn't what they had discussed back in the Hokage's office.
After a brief silence in the conference room, an uproar broke out.
"This... this absolutely cannot happen!"
"Please reconsider!"
"Please withdraw your decision! If you take your own life, what will the other villages think of Konoha?"
"Exactly!"
Almost every jonin was pleading with Hiruzen to take back his decision.
This time, they weren't just seizing an opportunity to show loyalty, they genuinely didn't want to see him take his own life over this.
As a former Hokage, every move he made represented Konoha. If he were forced to commit suicide, Konoha would truly become the laughingstock of the entire shinobi world.
"Are you serious?"
Even Tsunade was caught completely off guard by Hiruzen's words.
"This is a decision I've come to after much thought. I must give everyone an explanation."
Over the past few days, Hiruzen had personally inspected every single laboratory under Root's control. He left nothing unchecked. The sight of the corpses of comrades, along with the horrific conditions of unknown, young children, had left him restless and sleepless.
If only he had been more ruthless back then and hadn't delegated so much power to Danzō, these tragedies might never have happened.
In the end, the root of it all had started with him. Perhaps from the very beginning, it was a mistake for Tobirama to entrust Konoha to him.
Ryouma's gaze flickered as he carefully took in the subtle shifts in Hiruzen's expression, he saw through it.
While Hiruzen did feel guilty for having enabled Danzō and Orochimaru, that alone wasn't enough to drive him to the point of committing seppuku.
So there could only be one truth: Danzō was dead, and Hiruzen no longer had the will to live either.
He couldn't help but draw in a cold breath at his own realization. Was this the power of brotherhood? Or was it the highest form of friendship?
Back in the study at the Senju compound, he had once read a medical record.
It was a treatment log that Tobirama had kept while tending to Hashirama, back before he became the Second Hokage.
After Hashirama's final battle with Madara at the Valley of the End, his body had been covered in grievous wounds, but Tobirama hadn't been the least bit worried. Everyone who knew Hashirama was familiar with the miraculous nature of his body.
Injuries that would've killed an ordinary man were like minor scrapes to him, he'd be fine after a good meal.
But to Tobirama's surprise, Hashirama fell gravely ill not long after returning to the village.
The once-vibrant man became as weak and lifeless as the setting sun.
At the end of the medical record, there was a passage that read:
[I know clearly that my brother's body has no abnormal injuries. Every organ is functioning perfectly, yet his life force is fading with each passing day.
As expected, killing Madara with his own hands was simply too cruel for him. His body may be fine, but the powerful heart of the man known as the God of Shinobi has already died.
How many more things does the evil Uchiha clan have to take from me before it's enough?]
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/Malphegor

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153 – The Sins Buried Beneath the Leaf